The match began on a dreary afternoon at Joe O’Connor Park in Yass’s favour. They went into the first break leading 25-6, and managed to maintain that lead into half time, with the score at 50-20. 

The third quarter, which was easily Goulburn’s best passage of footy, saw the Swans begin to bridge the gap, before a drop in their level during the last five minutes allowed Yass to blow their lead out once more. 

Coming into the last quarter at 76-34, the Swans needed something special to redeem their chances, but Yass maintained their dominance and scored three goals to Goulburn’s one before the end of the match, to finish with the score at 96-40. 

Yass coach, Sam Campbell, was thrilled with the effort from his players. 

“[I’m] really proud of the boys, everyone stuck to their game plan and it definitely came off in the end,” Campbell said. 

There were two areas, Campbell said, where the Yass team really shone. 

“Our rebound and our contested work has been A-class this year, really,” he said. 

“That’s what we pride our game on and will continue to do so.”

The win over Goulburn means that Yass have started their year with three straight victories, and while they are one of four teams to remain unbeaten after three rounds, none of the others have played more than two matches. 

“Yeah, can’t be much happier than that,” Campbell said of his team’s streak.

“Take it one week at a time though, but yeah it’s been good.” 

Meanwhile, Goulburn Swans coach, Matt Lee, was disappointed with the result but remains optimistic. 

“It was fairly disappointing, but I don’t think it was through lack of effort on our behalf,” Lee said. 

“They probably showed a little bit more class, particularly moving the ball forward.”

Lee agreed with Campbell and said that Yass’s ability to rebound was a big factor in the game, and added that his team played into that strength for much of the match.

“We just played into their hands and kicked it down their throat a little bit,” he said. 

“[We] probably didn’t lower our eyes. We have leading targets and we would just bomb it long instead of lowering our eyes and being prepared to hit up that short guy that’s leading straight at you.”

Despite the result of the game, Lee believes that there were some upsides, and was impressed with the fight Goulburn showed. 

“We came out in the third quarter and picked that up a little bit,” he said.